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Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

jalopnik.com

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Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#31

Post by sircastor »

ThePadawan wrote: post #10
MerelyMortal wrote: post #6

> Mini has not heard any concerns from customers regarding the rear turn indicators I wouldn't expect them to: they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. If they happen to be behind another Mini, they already know about it and it may not throw them off-guard like others who aren't familiar with it.

I do hope that all it takes is a few customers in a showroom asking the salesman "does it come without those stupid fucking indicators?"

FWIW, the answer to that question is yes. We bought a Mini a few years back and the Union Jack indicators were an upgrade (not a cheap one as I recall)

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#32

Post by stemlord »

lmilcin wrote: post #12
MerelyMortal wrote: post #6

> Mini has not heard any concerns from customers regarding the rear turn indicators I wouldn't expect them to: they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. If they happen to be behind another Mini, they already know about it and it may not throw them off-guard like others who aren't familiar with it.

> they cannot see their own turn signal lights while driving. You are supposed to inspect your car at least from time to time. This includes walking over to see your turn signals work correctly.

Needlessly pedantic point... no one doubts that they have seen the back of their car before

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#33

Post by Bud »

Toutouxc wrote: post #14
danity wrote: post #7

Lighten up, have a little fun. embrace quirks. Not everything needs to be generic and cleansed of all personality.

I would love to embrace quirks in all areas of life EXCEPT the safety aspect of heavy machinery.

Same. I drove a MINI for 18 years partly because they are so quirky and that's enjoyable, but this is simply the wrong kind of thing to indulge quirkiness in.

Turn signals need to function well as turn signals. That's vitally important. You can't fuck with that by making the signal actively and hilariously misleading. It's just not ok.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#34

Post by Hamuko »

knolan wrote: post #8

Flashing the red brake light is a North American thing. Over in Europe you would have a dedicated amber light and I expect there is a different light than the Union Jack which would be reserved for combined rear and brake lights only. I’ve seen a mini with these lights recently here in Ireland and I’d expect the driver may find their car burnt out sooner rather than later.

I find it crazy that Americans allow turn signals to use the same red lights as brakes considering how many different safety rules they have. Like how all cars have to have amber reflectors on the front bumpers, which almost all European cars have to add almost as an afterthought [1], or how the door lock pins can't be flush with the door (at least I assume this is regulation since I never see non-flush door lock pins in European cars). And now the most recent one is the mandatory backup cameras, and I don't think I know any other country in the world where those are mandated by law.

[1] https://live.staticflickr.com/4623/39623465442_7519e01f0b_o....

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#36

Post by CountSessine »

This reminds me of the colour word test, where you have to say what colour a word is but the word itself is the name of a different colour. The cognitive conflict behind this is called the Stroop Effect and I wonder if this isn’t being inflicted on drivers behind these minis.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#37

Post by spzb »

woutr_be wrote: post #9
WelcomeShorty wrote: post #5

Hmm, I would not be distracted by this. There are so many different indicators in Europe (we have laxer rule than the US on blinkers) that the "direction" or whatever does not phase me at all.

I have seen all kind of indicators while driving in Europe, and they all share the same basic thing; a flashing light indicating in which direction the car will be turning. Suddenly seeing a flashing arrow pointing the other way instantly confused me, and I had no idea which way the car would be turning. This is just plain stupid.

I saw a flashing indicator light not an arrow until it was pointed out to me.

Re: Congratulations, Mini, you made the stupidest turn signals ever

#38

Post by flyingfences »

Bud wrote: post #26
omarqureshi wrote: post #2

Since the mini is a BMW and BMW drivers are notorious for never using turn signals, this should not be an issue, right?

The MINI is actually not a BMW, although it is true that it is made by BMW. Nor are MINI drivers really very much like BMW drivers, in fact I'd say that overall as a population, they are quite different. (I had a MINI from 2002-2020. Put about 300k miles on it.)

MY2013+ Minis are built on the BMW ULK1 platform.
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